Mobile purchases jumped over Thanksgiving weekend

Data released by device-based authentication service provider iovation showed mobile transactions are rising.

Iovation tracked online transactions at its clients over the Thanksgiving weekend and found mobile phones and tablets were used for between 46 and 48 percent of retail online transaction between Black Friday and Sunday before dropping to 39 percent on Cyber Monday.

iovation Vice President Scott Olson

That lower rate is likely due to people returning to work on the Monday, iovation Vice President Scott Olson said. That did not stop them from shopping altogether, as online retail transactions were 50 percent higher than a typical Monday.

That increased activity was not limited to purchases, Mr. Olson added.

“Credit applications submitted to some of our financial customers tripled from Black Friday to Cyber Monday meaning more people are buying big ticket items.”

Iovation also tracked fraud rates over the long weekend. The three most popular types of online fraud were credit card fraud, identity theft and friendly chargebacks, which occur when someone uses a legitimate card then disputes the purchase. They also discovered the following:

1.06 percent of retail online transactions were fraudulent.

0.62 percent of all retail online transactions conducted from mobile devices were fraudulent.

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